Irmin Schmidt, founder of the legendary group CAN, has written an opera: GORMENGHAST Commissioned by : Wuppertaler Bühnen, the work was performed in the English language and premiered at the Operahouse Wuppertal on 15. November 1998.

Inspired by Mervyn Peake's masterpiece of gothic fantasy, English novelist Duncan Fallowell wrote the libretto in St. Petersburg, combining romance, comedy and futurism into an adventure of epic strangeness peopled by unforgettable characters.

The opera is in 3 acts and centres on the rise and fall of Steerpike, a courageous, clever and charming kitchen-boy who becomes by degrees the murderous tyrant of Gormenghast Castle and its domain. In the process he bewitches and destroys Fuchsia the daughter of Gormenghast's opium-addicted ruler. Finally he meets his own dramatic death. The other inhabitants of this vivid decaying realm are drawn into the terrible tale.

Irmin Schmidt, who studied under Ligeti and Stockhausen, not only created in CAN one of the most influential of avant garde groups, but is also a classical conductor and pianist and has composed music for over 70 film productions. His work transforms elements of the popular, ethnic and classical into a wholly original musical language.

In both libretto and music, this integration of high culture and popular culture is not like anything which has gone before: it is achieved with perfect naturalness, carrying the art of opera forward into a new phase. The result is both accessible and magically unexpected : GORMENGHAST is a major addition to the world of musical theatre.

Mastered by Miles Showell at Metropolis, London
With the singers of the World Premiere (Wuppertal Operahouse
Schillertheater NRW), recorded live in performance

Musical Director :

Simon Rekers

and the Brandenburger Symphoniker conducted by Irmin Schmidt

A phantasmagorical soundworld of electronics, symphony orchestra and pounding beats
which envelopes singers who effortlessly stretch from Pop to Classical virtuosity.

"The sheer range of "sensurround" sound is bewildering, loud, sensuous,
always intriguing, especially the rustles of exotic percussion emerging from around the
auditorium. If Richard Strauss had written rock music, this is what it would have
sounded like - gloriously, unashamedly lush."

The original recordings with the Wuppertal Sinfonieorchester could not be used for the CD.
They have been replaced by the Brandenburger Symphoniker
Conducted by Irmin Schmidt
Recorded by Jono Podmore
Assistants: Gerd Nesgen, Ricky Ojijo
October 1999 in Brandenburg, Germany

The orchestral recordings and the performances in Wuppertal and Gelsenkirchen have been
generously supported by Musicstore, Köln, Große Budengasse 9-17